Snapshots
by giggles090
Summary: It's 13 years since her loss, and Elysia is still feeling the affects.
1. Chapter 1

Ok, this is my first attempt at a fanfic. I know, it's a bit slow right now, but it'll get more exciting once i add to it.

I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of it's characters.

Chapter 1

Elysia's eyes flashed open as the incessant bleating of the alarm clock began. She clumsily reached beside her to the nightstand where the clock was, and fumbled for the button to make the horrid noise stop. Unable to find it, she picked it up and threw it across the room; unplugging it in the process.

Did the day really have to begin? If she tried and ignored it, maybe night would just go on. Clearing her head of these thoughts, she groaned, and rolled out of bed. She winced as she walked into the night stand. Great. The day was already starting off well.

Elysia had just turned seventeen, with light brown hair a little past her shoulders; which she always wore in a ponytail, and blue eyes. She was neither an optimist nor a pessimist, but somewhere in the middle. She could remember being happier, but people, being products of their environment, change; and since her father's death when she was four, things hadn't been the same. Her mother was often drunk, and went out with too many men, never satisfied with any of them because they were "nothing like her father"

She also now had a half brother that her mother had with one of these men. His name was Strider; an inquisitive twelve year old with an auto-mail eye. He was extremely arrogant and too smart for his own good. Not a combination that makes for a modest personality. He and Elysia often fought over just about everything. They weren't the closest of siblings.

Elysia had a hobby that reminded her of her father. She liked to take pictures. She often had a camera with her and took random snapshots when she could.

Now ready for school, Elysia made her way out the door. She had gotten up early just to avoid seeing her broken family; but, unfortunately a noise behind her caused her to pause before shutting the door, and she turned to see her mother.

Gracia Hughes was now middle aged. She still kept her brown hair cut above her shoulders. She didn't look too bad this morning. She probably hadn't been drinking last night. Stretching, she said "Going to school?"

"Yeah…" Elysia answered. She didn't feel muchlike talking at the moment.

"Well…have a good day." Her mother finished.

Elysia sighed and closed the door behind her. Most conversations she had with her mother these days were as short and terse as that one had been.

After a routine day of school, Elysia had work. She worked at a small diner a few blocks away from where she lived called "Angleitia's Meet and Eat". This was her first job. Some teenagers get a job for extra money; some because their parents force them too, and then some like Elysia, get a job to help support their family. Angelitia, or Angie, as she liked to be called, owned the diner. She knew about Elysia's situation, and was kind to her. She was paid well, and wasn't overworked. She worked behind a register for the most part.

This particular night wasn't very busy. Elysia sighed, and begincleaning off the counter as random music played through out the diner. She looked up as a chime sounded, which alerted workers to when a customer had arrived. This customer was her neighbor, Adrian; a boy she had been friends with for as long as she could remember. He was a year older than her, tall, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. He walked over to the register she was at, and sat on the counter. "Hey, how are ya?" he said.

Elysia smiled. Adrian had a habit of dropping by at the right moments. At least she wouldn't be bored anymore. "Alright I guess."

"You guess?" He raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Come on, things aren't that bad."

She crossed her arms. "I guess not."

"Hey, how can you not be ok around me?"

She rolled her eyes playfully. "Oh right, you come along and everything's suddenly better?"

He gave a smug smile. "Well I was hoping so."

"You're too modest."

Angie suddenly came at Adrian with a dish rag. "Boy, get your butt off my counter!" She was ready to swing, but Adrian jumped off before she had reason too. She looked at him a moment, shook her head, then turned to the counter and began cleaning it.

Adrian shrugged, and sat in a booth near the counter as he waited for Elysia to get off work.

Angie let her go early, and the two walked the few blocks home together.

"So…who's your mom seeing now? Still that actor?" He asked.

Elysia laughed. "No, she dumped him a while ago. Things were getting too weird. I mean, spending all that time in the bathroom fixing his hair? He had more feminine habits than she did."

"So who was that guy I saw today?"

"Probably Derek. He's a construction worker…" She trailed off. She wasn't too sure about her mother's new boyfriend. "So…" she said. They had just reached her house, and the silence between them was growing awkward.

"So…see you tomorrow?" Adrian said.

She smiled. "Sure." And with that, she walked inside the house.

"What were you talking to him about, huh?" commented a voice as soon as she stepped inside. She looked over to see Strider, both eyes, his normal brown one, and his other auto-mail eye fixed on her.

"Nothing. Were you watching out the window? You stupid little brat."

"Hmph. Well it's not like there's anything else better to do in this house."

"You just can't mind your own business, can you?"

"Nope."

"I thought so." She shook her head and started up the stairs. "Night."

"Yeah whatever. I'm going to wait up for mom."

"Derek?"

"Yeah."

And so after a normal day, Elysia was asleep for a normal night. But, she had only slept a few hours before she awoke to a commotion that was not normal. And the actions causing the commotion would ensure she'd never have a normal day like this again.

It was screaming. Her mother's screaming. Her eyes flashed open, and shelaid there a second; unsure whether or not she had really heard it. After a few more moments, and a few more odd noises, she decided to see what was going on.

As she made her way down the stairs, the open door creaked as wind blew it open a few more inches. In the moonlight, she saw blood glistening on the door knob, and felt a chill go down her back. This was bad. She heard a noise, and saw Strider cowering behind the couch beside the door and in front of the window, his auto-mail eye shining with the same moonlight. He looked absolutely terrified. "I-is he gone?" he managed to whisper.

Elysia went to him, but stopped as she reached the bottom of the stairs. There, lying on the floor, bloody and dying was her mother. Gasping, she knelt down beside her. Her mother tried to talk, but couldn't seem to manage it. Elysia felt tears growing in her eyes.

Strider came out from behind the couch and went over to them. "Mom?"

But she was gone, and Elysia's "normal" life went with her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Elysia and Strider now stood in front of a grave marked "Maes Hughes", sharing an umbrella. Elysia sighed as she thought of everything that had happened since last night. It was afternoon the next day, and the rain was seemingly endless. The police, the neighbors, Adrian, her deceased mother, everything and the events that had occurred, played again and again through her mind. But, for some reason, the things people had said stuck out the most.

"Just so you know, you'll always have a place with me, both you and Strider." Angie had said. "I'd take you both in, but I'm not allowed to since I'm not family."

Adrian's expression was forlorn, which wasn't typical of him. "I wish…I wish I knew what to say. Something…anything to just help in some way…but I can't find the words. You don't deserve what happened. I'm so sorry, Elysia."

Roy Mustang put a hand on her shoulder. His wife, Riza stood beside him. "I'm…very sorry for your loss. She was a good woman…don't worry. It'll be alright. I'll make sure of it."

"Elysia…" Strider's voice brought her out of reminiscing. "I want to go. It's raining."

Elysia ignored him.

Strider was starting to get agitated. He didn't like rain. Water bothered his auto-mail eye at times. "Elysia-"

"I'm not leaving. Not yet." She interrupted him.

"Why? How's he going to help anything? He's dead. And why did you bring me here? I could care less about him. He wasn't even my father. I never knew him. In fact, I'm glad he's dead, because I wouldn't be here if he wasn't."

Elysia remained silent.

"Elysia…"

"Go if you want…"

"…I don't have an umbrella."

Elysia threw the umbrella down on the ground beside him.

Strider picked it up and held it over his head. He stared at her a moment, hoping she'd come with him. But, in the next moment, he remembered that Elysia was only his half sister and he shouldn't care this much, so he walked away.

Elysia collapsed on the ground as soon as he was gone. She began to cry. It was the first time since last night she had really cried. Everything she held inside her now escaped in the form of tears as she sat drenched in rain by her father's grave. Too many emotions to describe pushed their way through her eyes.

When she thought she had heaved her last sob, another emotion took hold as Strider's words came back to her. 'I'm glad he's dead, because I wouldn't be here if he wasn't.' She began to feel angry. It wasn't just that. So many things would not have happened if her father hadn't died. Her mother wouldn't have seen so many men, she wouldn't have started drinking, Elysia wouldn't have had to get a job to help support the family, she wouldn't have to deal with Strider; and most importantly, her mother would not have been dead right now.

She stood, enraged. "Why…" she said quietly, but grew louder. "Why? Why did you die? Why did you leave us? How could you let this happen? There had to have been something you could have done. Why? How could you just let yourself be killed and leave us so miserable?" She began to sob again. "I can barely remember you… You know what? I hate you. I hate you, dad. I hate you for leaving mom and me like that. It's your fault. It's all your fault..."

And with these final words to her father, she collected herself, and left his grave. She walked home, and packed. She and her brother were leaving tomorrow. They were being sent to live with an aunt she'd heard about, but never met in Resembool.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Elysia helped Strider place his baggage in an over head compartment onboard the train. They were to bring with them what they could, the rest would be sent to their; or rather Elysia's aunt. The woman they were going to be living with had been her father's sister.

As Strider looked up, while shoving the baggage in place, his hair fell back away from his face. He winced and hastily looked down, pulling hair over his auto-mail eye. Elysia closed the compartment and smirked at him. "You look emo." She commented.

Strider wrinkled his nose at her but said nothing. Since their mother's death, the two seemed to have come to an unspoken agreement not to argue as much. He drew a few more bangs over his eye. He always did this. He hated it when people stared or asked questions.

The two walked off the train, and said their final goodbyes to the three people seeing them off; Roy Mustang, Riza Mustang, and Angie. Words were said between them, but to Elysia they really had no meaning; just obligated small talk. "We'll miss you" and such. The one person she had really wanted to talk to wasn't there.

A whistle sounded, signaling for passengers to board the train. She said farewell to Angie and the married couple, and was about to board the train when he came. Adrian came rushing up to her as she walked into the train.

"Elysia!" he shouted.

She turned and smiled when she saw him. "It's about time."

He stopped in front of her, panting. "I'm sorry, didn't realize it was so late."

She rolled her eyes playfully. A train worker beckoned her to board the train, as they were about to leave, but she ignored him.

"I…" said Adrian, placing a hand behind his head and looking uncomfortable. "I just wanted to…just, well come back and visit, ok?"

Elysia gave a sad smile. She realized for the first time how much she was leaving behind. She suddenly didn't want to go. At first, the prospect of leaving here was alright. She would be getting away from it all, but some things, she saw now, she didn't want to be away from. She almost considered getting Strider, and refusing to board the train, but decided against it, and finally said, "Sure."

Adrian smiled smugly. "Promise?"

"Of course."

Adrian looked around for a moment, and without warning, hugged her. Elysia was surprised for a second, and then returned the embrace.

"Take care of yourself and Strider."

They broke apart and Elysia nodded. This couldn't go on much longer. The more she lingered, the more she wanted to stay, but, she had to go. Not to mention the train employee was getting even more impatient, so she ended it. "Well…see ya."

"See ya…"

She stepped backwards into the train, and the doors closed in front of her. Adrian was still standing there. They both watched one another as the train pulled away.

When she couldn't see him anymore, Elysia went to her seat. Strider looked at her with disgust. "After watching that, I'm gonna be sick. That was vile, you and stupid lover boy. Never act like that with your dumb googly eyes within a mile of me again."

Elysia blushed. She couldn't think of anything to say except, "Shut up."

"Hmph." Strider retorted. Once again, he held back from arguing with her.

A while later, Strider was sleep in his seat, and Elysia, across from him, stared out the window. She noticed a little girl in the seat behind her looking over her shoulder at Strider. His hair had fallen away from his eye, and although he was asleep, he never could fully close that eye, and now the girl looked at it questioningly.

"Hey, what's wrong with his eye?" the girl asked.

"Well, he was born blind in that eye, so they replaced it. The one he has now is auto-mail."

"Born blind in an eye?"

"Yep."

Strider began to stir. When he awoke he saw Elysia and the girl. The girl was looking at his eye. He quickly sat up, and pulled his hair over it again, glaring at the little girl. She turned around at the look on his face and said no more.

Strider crossed his arms, obviously displeased.

Elysia rolled her eyes. "Get over it. I mean, aren't you used it by now? You've had it nearly all your life."

Strider turned his gaze away from her. "I hate it. I'd rather be blind in one eye then have people stare at me. No one asked me if I wanted this. If I had a choice, I'd have my normal eye back."

Elysia shook her head.

Strider rose. "I'm going to the bathroom." He didn't really have to do anything, he was just tired of this conversation and Elysia refusal to see things from his perspective so, he simply walked around the train.

Elysia sighed. Now that she had no one to talk to, there was time to think, something she'd rather not do at the moment. She couldn't find them. Her father's small throwing knives. She knew how to use them, and had wanted to take them with her, but they were gone. Then she remembered what she had said at the cemetery, and decided that she didn't care about the knives. So, she got out her camera, and asked if she could take the little girl's picture.

"Hey," someone called out to Strider. It was a boy a bit older than him. "What's up with your eye?"

Strider ignored him.

"Hey, I asked you something." The boy retorted.

Strider kept walking.

The boy got up and stormed over to Strider, grabbing him by the shoulder and turning him around. "An auto-mail eye? Pft. I've seen people with auto-mail limbs before but never an auto-mail eye…what a freak."

Strider glared at him, unsure of what to say, an anger growing inside him.

The boy smirked at the look on his face. "What, I'm sure you're used to being called a freak."

"…stop saying that." Strider commented rather quietly.

"What're you gonna do? Don't forget I'm bigger than you."

So Strider reached into a pocket, and pulled out, as you might have guessed, the small throwing knives.

The boy let go of Strider's shoulder with a yelp.

Elysia jumped and look down the aisle of the train when she heard. She saw Strider brandishing the knife in front of him. She ran over to him, infuriated and grabbed it from him. "You!" she yelled. "You took them! I was looking all over for these, and you took them! Do you know what these are!"

Strider shrugged. "They were your dad's right?"

"Yes!" she said. "Doesn't that mean anything to you? How could you just take them?"

"Well…they were shiny. Besides, why should I care? He wasn't my father.

The boy slowly edged away from them. Strider fixed his auto-mail eye on him, and laughed at the terrified look on the boy's face. "Yeah, like I'd really do anything."

"Well you never know with auto-mail freaks like you." The boy returned to his seat. Strider let him go and looked at Elysia who was glaring at him. People on the train were starting to stare.

"Maybe he wasn't your father…but he was mine, and these knives are important to me."

Strider scoffed. "Do you even know how to use them?" He started walking back to his seat.

Elysia followed after him uncomfortably. "…maybe. Where are the rest?"

"Here." said Strider sighing and reaching into his coat pocket. He handed the others to her.

"These aren't toys." Elysia scolded.

"I wasn't really going to do anything. Just threaten him a little; maybe get him to leave me alone."

Elysia shook her head. "You're impossible."

They stayed in their seats the rest of the ride for the most part without incident, except for a few odd stares from others on the train, until they arrived at their stop.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Elysia started off the train, she didn't notice Strider struggling to retrieve his baggage from the compartment until she heard him curse loudly at the bags.

"Strider!" She scolded as she stormed over to him. "Don't talk like that in public."

"Hmph." Strider muttered moving aside. "Since when do you care? And your not…" he trailed off. Apparently he didn't want to say "mom".

Elysia rolled her eyes and handed him his bags. "If you needed help, you could have just asked."

Strider glared at her. He roughly snatched his things from her and went down the train aisle. "I don't want your help."

Elysia rolled her eyes again, and followed after him. She did love her little brother, even if he was only her half brother, but he was almost too much to deal with sometimes.

Strider didn't know how to feel about Elysia. She was, after all just his half sister. They only shared half of the same blood. So should he feel likes she's really his sister? He was also jealous of her, even if her father had died, she had still met him. His father on the other hand had left his mother as soon as he found out she was pregnant. Strider had never known him.

There were times, like now, when Elysia made efforts to be nicer to Strider and treat him as if he were really her brother. Strider also didn't know how to react to that. He could never tell if she really wanted to make these efforts, or if she only did so because their mother had always wanted them to be closer. He usually decided that she only did things, like helping with his baggage, to please their mother, and often returned her favors with resentment.

Strider was wrong. What he hadn't thought about was that Elysia tried to be friendly at times for both reasons.

"Well now what?" Strider asked Elysia as they stood on the platform beside each other.

"I don't know." said Elysia. She hadn't thought about what they were to do once they were off the train, and the crowds of people both getting off the train and some waiting for others only added to the confusion.

A familiar voice called her name, and she turned to see a blond woman waving to her and Strider. She didn't recognize her at first, she hadn't seen her in years, but after a moment or two it hit her.

"Winry!" she said. The woman nodded and came over to them. Winry had grown a lot since Elysia had last seen her. She had met Winry when she was about four, and hadn't seen her since she was six.

"Look at you!" Winry exclaimed. "You're almost grown!"

Elysia laughed, and then looked at her confused. "Wait, you're not our aunt, are you?"

"Nope. But your aunt lives near us, and I offered to pick you guys up since she's busy."

Winry peered behind Elysia and pulled Strider forward who was hoping to go unnoticed. "Strider!" she said. "You were only a year old last time I saw you." She turned her gaze to his auto-mail eye. "And your eye! I forgot you had auto-mail! You have to let me take a look at it! You know what? I could build a new one for you! A better one!"

Strider was taken aback by her interest in his auto-mail. Elysia explained to him that she was an auto-mail mechanic, and got a little overexcited at times when she came across any.

Even with this information, Strider still thought this woman was strange. He then found her almost scary when she grabbed him by the hand and dragged him along still babbling on about auto-mail.

Winry left them at a doorstep a few houses away from her own with strict orders for Strider to stop by later.

Elysia stared at the door in front of her after she was gone. She wasn't sure about this. Even though this aunt was her father's sister, she had never met her.

"Well?" said Strider interrupting her thoughts.

She glanced at him a moment and knocked on the door. It opened slowly, and an almost exact replica of Maes Hughes stood before. This woman really looked like her father. Aside from the longer hair, dress, and breasts. She even seemed to have a bit of facial hair where her father had some. She looked at her aunt for a moment, and then passed out from shock.


End file.
